Thursday, December 29, 2016

Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 30 December 2016 - 5 January 2017

Man, nobody wants to release new movies on the last weekend of the year. Seriously, no new releases, which makes for a good chance to catch up and hit some of the independent theaters with their cool programs.

First up is The Brattle Theatre, which opts for Casablanca as their New Year's Eve flick, playing on 35mm Friday and Saturday, as they try and get as many screenings in before it goes out of general circulation for the 75th anniversary (indeed, they thought they weren't going to be able to play it for Valentine's Day). Sunday, then, is the traditional New Year's Day Marx Brothers Marathon, where one ticket will get you in for The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup. It also serves as a preview of the "Refreshed! Renewed! Restored!" series, with double features of Animal Crackers & Duck Soup on Monday and Horse Feathers & Monkey Business on Tuesday. There's a preview of 20th Century Women (with a special screening of director Mike Mills's prior film Beginners at 5:30pm). The new restorations continue on Thursday, with The Wanderers and The Pit.

Once again, The Coolidge Corner Theatre only has one midnight show this week (on Friday), with Ghostbusters II playing on 35mm, closing up early on Saturday so folks can do New Year's Eve stuff. On Monday night, they have their first Big Screen Classic of the year, with Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which is like few other movies ever made, musical or otherwise.

The Museum of Fine Arts wraps their Laura Dern: Woman Inherits the Earth series with Smooth Talk and Inland Empire on Friday, with the latter labeled as "Closing Night" with a 35mm and live music during the pre-show. That's not quite the case, as they have one last screening of Jurassic Park on Saturday. In January, the new calendar starts with a 35mm print of Pierre Étaix's The Great Love kicking off a retrospective of his films while a DCP of The Battle of Algiers also starts a brief run; both films play on Wednesday and Thursday.

The ICA has one last day of British Arrow Award screenings on Friday, with the show of unusual ads from the UK free with admission to the museum

Well, I have yet to see Jackie, La La Land, Lion, Fences, and Manchester By the Sea, so it looks like I'll be going to those.